Partial removal of containers ordered

Lahore - Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed police to remove containers from three points around Model Town and Jinnah Hospital to solve people’s problems.Justice Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah passed this order while hearing petitions challenging blockage of roads, arrest of workers and shortage of fuel causing serious problems for the citizens. The judge ordered Lahore District Coordination Officer to ensure uninterrupted supply of petrol in the city. After hours long hearing, the judge asked Punjab Advocate General Hanif Khatana and Inspector General Punjab Mushtaq Sukhera to sit together with petitioners’ lawyers and decide the critical situation for roads’ closure. The IGP, AGP and petitioners, after their meeting, submitted their recommendations to the court and stated that the containers would be removed from Model Town J-Block, H-Block (underpass) and Jinnah Hospital. The judge accepted the proposal and directed the police to implement the decision immediately. Earlier, Lahore DCO Capt (r) Usman Ahmad told the court that supply of petrol was smooth in the city and presently 5.5 million liter petrol was available in the city. He said filling stations in the city had enough stock for next seven days. During the course of hearing, petitioner counsel Ahmad Awais and IGP Mushtaq Sukhera also exchanged hot words with each other when the latter showed his ignorance about number of arrested/detained workers of PTI. However, they resolved the matter and hug each other. After hearing both parties, the judge directed authorities concerned to remove containers from the three agreed points and stop police from harassing PTI workers and making arrest. The petition was disposed of.

Meanwhile, a full bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday stopped police from harassing and arresting workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in connection with ‘Azadi March’ to be taken out on August 14 in Islamabad.The full bench headed by Justice Mahmood Bhatti passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Hassan Owais, a local citizen, through his counsel Advocate Ahmad Awais. The bench also summoned Inspector General Punjab and Lahore Capital City Police Officer on Wednesday (today). The petitioner’s counsel told the bench that police was arresting their party workers to restrain them from taking part in “Azadi March” announced by the PTI chief Imran Khan. He said all main roads had been blocked across the province and the workers of PTI were being disallowed to move towards Islamabad. Even common citizens were compelled to stay at homes due to blocking of roads. Advocate Awais argued that the impugned acts of the government were in sheer violation of fundamental rights protected under the Constitution.